Ada Nicodemou

After 18 years in front of the cameras, the home and away star is finally happy to call herself an actor.

1. ON BENDED KNEE

This hangs in my kitchen and its my favourite photo. It was taken in 1977 and thats my gorgeous Uncle Michael, my paternal grandmothers brother. The way I describe it, he was an angel put on earth to protect me. He was always so positive and proud of me and hed push me to succeed. The photo was taken in the storeroom of his mixed business in Telopea [in western Sydney]. My mum used to work there and it was my second home. I would count money before I went to school, and Uncle Michael would later walk me to school and home again every day. We were so close. He was meant to walk me down the aisle but died a few months before my wedding.

2. MOVE OVER, MADGE!

Both my parents, Jenny and Nick, were migrants but they met here, and I grew up in Minto, in south-west Sydney, with them and my younger brother, Costa. This is year 4 so, 1986 at The Grange Public School in Minto. I think lace was the go back then the 80s, Madonna and all that. I thought I was fashionable! I was always quite a good student but I was opinionated. I was an extroverted kid I never walked anywhere, Id always skip. And Id put on shows for relatives and was always keen to be in the limelight. Id talk to strangers and even get up on stage at these Greek dances, in front of thousands of people, and ask for the microphone and talk and sing. I demanded attention.

3. ALL SMILES IN SUMMER BAY

When I was at school I went to Johnny Young Talent School where I did tap, jazz, drama and singing. Then, when I was 16 and in year 12, I got a role in [ABC-TV series] Heartbreak High.It was only meant to be 12 weeks but it lasted years. Mum was worried about my schooling and didnt want me to do it, but Uncle Michael and I begged and pleaded. It didnt help when she first saw my character, this rough, brazen girl nothing like me, this sheltered Greek girl. She was mortified, but it all worked out. Years later I got a part on Home and Away, a show I obsessed about as a young girl. This is a publicity shot [featuring Nicodemou, far right, Bec Hewitt (nee Cartwright), far left, and Ryan Kwanten, in sunglasses] taken in about 2000.

4. MY BIG FUN, GREEK WEDDING

Home and Away has been my home for 12 years now. Almost immediately I fell in love with the show and the people, and found great respect for the process and work involved putting the show together so quickly. Id always say, Im acting at the moment, as if a real job was around the corner. But working on the show has slowly made me more comfortable calling myself an actor. Then, in 2007, I married chef and restaurateur Chrys Xipolitas and it was the happiest day of my life. This is me with Chrys, my mum, who walked me down the aisle, and Costa.

5. NEW YORK MINUTE

Chrys now runs [a Greek-Cypriot restaurant called] Island in Sans Souci, in southern Sydney, but when I first met him, on Mothers Day in 2005, he was running Zippos in nearby Kyle Bay. Along with my mum, my cousin and her mother, we went to his restaurant and because my cousin knew him, Chrys came out of the kitchen and sat with us. We really hit it off and he just made me laugh. He said to my mum, Ah, dont worry, if she gets to 30 and shes not married I suppose Ill marry her. Well, we got married before I turned 30. Then we had a great five-week honeymoon, and New York was the first place we went. This was on our first day there and its our favourite place on earth.